Out of money. What can I do?

[Calvin]

We have a team of kids, and many other who want to join. And I have just realized that we don't have the $6,000 to register for the 1st Event.

Our last year's management people have left, and everything has fallen into my hands. I have found some organizations that might grant us the money. But I don't think we will have the money by December 9, 2005 (deadline).

Is it possible to negotiate with FIRST? Maybe pay the money later, or in increments? I’m sorry, I'm only a programmer and have just first looked into the world of actually running the team.

Any help would be greatly appreciated.

[Simon Strauss]

noticed that a little late eh?

now for the helpful part of this post. although i am not part of the PR section of my team i do somehow have a better business sense then half of them and my mother is involved with money getting as a member of NEMO and one of the team parents for 1155, so i have a good idea of this forte of first, and my theory has always been shameless begging for money from anyone who would have even a remote interest and then some other people. through this method i have been able to receive for our team a grand and a bit last year and an expected 2 to 3 grand this year by myself, more than any other individual on the team. its kind of like introducing yourself to a girl you like, the worst they can say is no (and you don't run the risk of ridicule or your soul being eaten). ill try to find out from our teams administration on Monday if we have any sources of green that may be able to aid you all the way out in Oregon and ill talk to PR about how they can help, but my best answer is to try to contact one of the "all first mentors" such as robomom or kathiek because they will have more insight than i.

good luck, Simon

[sanddrag]

I saw one college kid on the news who came up with this really stupid (but incredibly genius) thing. He is selling a million pixels on a web page for $1 per pixel. Anyway, he has made $700,000 already. I think that'll just barely cover college eh?

Anyway, I don't know if you'd be too successful with that, but it wouldn't take too much to try.

Another interesting thing I've heard about is an online forum where you can pay to change people's user titles and thread titles for some sum of money. This would be a little difficult to set up though.

What we have had much success with lately is candy sales (Airheads to be specific). Made about a grand each time.

What we have been successful with in the past is plaques. We get the machine shop to do us up some nice little plaques and put the team photo on them (pic). It costs at the most about $6 in materials and we "sell" them for a $100 dollar donation by going around to all the local businesses and saying "hey look, you sponsor all these soccer and baseball teams, why not sponsor us?". We also include a putting their logo on the team shirt and website in that $100 price.

One thing I saw on TV for a little league team is one mom sold advertising space on her kid's head. (auctioned off the space on eBay) She got a few hundred $ to let somebody put their sticker on his helmet.

One thing I've heard of but never tried is where you can hold an event at school to let people pay to throw pies at a teacher, or to duct tape them to a wall.

Best of luck!

[Denman]

Originally Posted by sanddrag

I saw one college kid on the news who came up with this really stupid (but incredibly genius) thing. He is selling a million pixels on a web page for $1 per pixel. Anyway, he has made $700,000 already. I think that'll just barely cover college eh?

Anyway, I don't know if you'd be too successful with that, but it wouldn't take too much to try.

Hes at my uni lol. www.milliondollarhomepage.com for the site .

[Madison]

Contact FIRST on Monday morning. They're based in New Hampshire, so you can call very early. If there's anything that can be done, they'll be able to tell you what it is. Nobody is going to post here giving you a definitive answer, even if they're in a position to do so.

(603) 666-3906

I don't know if that's a general information number or FIRST Team Support. If someone has a better number, they'll post it.

[Calvin]

Thanks for the advice, I'll try contact FIRST on Monday.

[RoboMom]

Originally Posted by M. Krass

Contact FIRST on Monday morning.

(603) 666-3906

.

Save Money.
Call toll-free.
1-800-871-8326
8:30-5p EST.
Press "0" to get team support.

[Doug G]

FIRST can work with you on this, please contact them!! I helped a rookie team last year who didn't get payment in to FIRST until just after christmas. They just had to wait about a week for their kit to get mailed off to them. Not the worst case scenario since you're a returning team, that first week can really be devoted to design anyhow.

Good Luck and just talk to someone at FIRST about your situation.

[OnyxFox]

our team is concentrating on money is specify to them that we need a unlimited supply of money in our bank.

Were hosting a HALO tournament. It seems to raise alot of money and interest